LG OLED C7 Review (OLED55C7P, OLED65C7P) – 2017 LG OLED TV C series

Overview

LG OLED C7 or OLED C7P is a part of LG’s 2017 OLED TV and also a successor of OLED C6 series. But unlike the predecessor OLED C6 that came with curved panel, OLED C7 comes with flat panel. In the market, LG OLED C7 series is only available in two screen sizes, 55 Inch (OLED55C7P) and 65 Inch (OLED65C7P). Comes with HDR technology, OLED C7 already supports most of HDR format that available in the market including HDR 10 by UHD Alliance, Dolby Vision By Dolby Laboratories, HLG by BBC and NHK, and Advanced HDR by Technicolor. Nevertheless, compared to the predecessor OLED C6P, it is missing of 3D technology where of course this is a bit disappointing for 3D fans.

As we know, the major superiority of OLED TV including OLED C7 to LED TV is about perfect black level and infinite contrast that produced. Since black level and contrast are including the major important aspect of picture quality, this course makes the picture quality that produced looks absolutely amazing. Additionally, for covering wide color gamut, it uses 4 colors sub pixel technology where in addition to standard RGB sub pixels, there is an also white sub pixel as the extra sub-pixel. Additionally, for improving the color produced so looks more natural and vibrant, there are True Color Accuracy and Cinematic Color technologies behind OLED C7P. Still about color performance, LG OLED C7 also features Billion Rich Colors where this allows C7 is able to deliver billions shades of color that makes color gradient of the picture produced looks very smooth. Meanwhile, for producing bright picture, OLED C7 series is powered by Ultra Luminance Technology. And the advantage, it also has wide viewing angle that means no matter the angle you are watching from, you will get the best viewing.

In addition to amazing picture quality, LG OLED C7P also offers perfect performance on some aspects. Motion handling is perfect that allows you to watch fast moving images like sport or fast movies smoothly with almost no motion blur. Additionally, it also has ability to remove judder when used for playing 24p movies at any sources. Input lag is also very low that makes it is very comfortable when used for playing any kind of games. OLED C7 is also equipped with great performance UHD Up-scaling engine called Tru 4K Up-Scaler that allow you to enjoy any resolution video with the quality close to 4K quality. And as its smart TV platform, it features WebOS 3.5, the 2017 version of WebOS Smart TV platform.

Performance of LG OLED C7

Picture Quality

Picture quality is the major advantage of LG OLED C7. What produced by OLED C7 is similar to what produced by the last year model OLED B6 series. Black level is perfect and contrast is infinite due it has self-lighting sub pixel. As we know, one of the advantage of OLED TV is self lighting sub-pixel where each of their sub-pixel and switch on/off/dim individually without being affected by the condition of other sub-pixel surrounding. This makes OLED TV doesn’t require backlighting due each of pixel emits its own light. And this equivalent to LED TV with local dimming that has dimming zones as many as the number of pixels. And since OLED C7P has perfect black level and infinite contrast, of course this makes its dark room performance is awesome. Blacks of images look absolutely blacks that make detail of images in dark scenes or shadows looks very clear. Indirectly, this also makes color in a dark scene also look very saturated so the naturalness of dark images is still preserved well.

oled-vs-led-tv-contrast

Meanwhile, LG OLED C7 series is also able to produce bright picture due its very bright peak brightness, even slight brighter than the predecessor C6 or B6 series. This makes the quality of the picture is still preserved well when used in a bright room. Additionally, although not as bright as what reached by top model OLED TV like Sony X930E series or Samsung KS series of last year, peak brightness reached by OLED C7 is also bright enough to make its HDR performance is great. As we know, Sony X930E series or Samsung KS series are including the brightest TVs with about 1500 nits of peak brightness while what reached by OLED C7 is still below 1000 nits. But even so, peak brightness reached by OLED C7P is at least still brighter than 550 nits as the minimum standardization to get Ultra HD Premium Certification set for OLED TV. So, as long as you don’t use it in an extremely bright room where there is sunlight coming in through the windows, peak brightness of OLED C7 is quite bright to fight the glare and make the picture look consistently amazing.

Moving on color performance, color of picture that displayed on the screen of LG OLED C7 also looks very saturated. Behind it, there are 4 sub pixels color technology which supported by the number of most advanced technologies like Tru Color Accuracy, Cinematic Color, and more. The result, it can delivers about 95% of DCI P3 color space, similar to what reached by OLED B6 or C6 series of 2016 model. Of course, this makes the color of the picture displayed looks very accurate, even when displaying HDR contents that require wide color gamut. As we know, for displaying HDR 10 contents, color gamut required is at least 90% of DCI P3 color space, while what reached by OLED C7P is wider than that. Meanwhile, with Billion Rich Color Technology, LG OLED C7 can deliver well about 1.07 billion shades of dollar due it already support 10 bit depth of panel. The result, color gradient looks very smooth without any banding. Like last year model B6 and C6 series, there might some still imperfections in darker color, but this should not be a problem for most of people.

While picture quality of LG OLED C7 is awesome due great visual specs on almost all aspects of picture quality, LG OLED C7 also offer wide viewing angle. The picture looks consistently amazing even when you are watching TV from side viewing angle. Even what offered by OLED C7 is far wider than IPS TV that is optimized for providing wide viewing angle. This course is very useful especially when there are a lot viewers comes with multiple viewing angle where all of them can enjoy amazing picture quality displayed on its screen with similar quality.

Meanwhile, LG OLED C7P is also powered by Tru 4K Up-Scaler engine that does a good job when up-scaling lower resolution contents to near 4K quality. The result no matter the resolution of the video source, you can enjoy them sharply and clearly close to 4K quality. Even for low resolution contents like DVDs movies, the final image that is produced still looks sharply and clearly with small details are preserved well. And of course, the higher resolution of video source like 720p or 1080p contents like movies from Cable TV or Blu-Ray Player, the final images in 4K quality that displayed will looks sharper and clearer with small details is preserved more. Still about up-scale engine, LG OLED C7 is also equipped with HDR Effect Technology that optimizes brightness range and color of HDR images or SDR images so HDR picture that produced looks better. This means when you are watching SDR contents, it allows you to enjoy them with the quality close to HDR.

Score: (4.3/5)

Motion Handling and 24p Playback

In addition awesome picture quality, LG OLED C7 is also a great TV when used for displaying fast moving images like sports program or fast movies. Its pixel response time is very fast, far faster than fastest LED TV. The result, the picture displayed is nearly perfect without motion blur. This means, there is almost no trail noticeable following fast moving object. On the other hand, LG OLED C7 is also a great TV when displaying 24p movies. No matter the source, whether it is 24p movies from Blur Ray, 24p via 60i signals like movies from Satellite TV, or even 24p via 60p signals like movies from streaming media, all of them displayed clearly and smoothly on the screen of OLED C7 without a judder. Additionally, since it has native 120 Hz refresh rate panel, it already supports 30ffps/60fps motion interpolation. This means it can interpolate well the lower frame rate content without any issues.

Score: (4.8/5)

Inputs/Outputs

Like other model of LG’s 2017 OLED TV lineup, LG OLED C7 is equipped with 4 HDMI 2.0a ports supports HDCP 2.2, CEC, Audio Return Channel, and more. Additionally, it also provides 3 USB ports for connecting with other media like USB flash disk, Camcorder, Digital Camera, and others. In addition to HDMI and USB ports, there are also Composite In (AV In), RF In (Terrestrial), Audio Output ((Optical), and more. But unlike the 2016 models, there is no Component In on OLED C7. 3 HDMI Ports and 2 USB ports are located on side panel while the others are located on rear panel. Meanwhile, talking about the input lags, LG OLED C7P has very low input lag regardless the resolution of the source. It even is lower than the predecessor B6 or C6 series and competitive to Samsung KS series as the TVs with lowest input lag in last year. With very low input lag, this course make it is good enough to be used for fast paced games with any resolution.

Score: (4.6/5)

Smart TV

As the smart TV platform, LG OLED C7 features WebOS version 3.5. Compared to last year model, there are some upgrades and updates that make it offer better performance especially on the hardware that supports it. The result, its performance is faster and more responsive than last year version. Meanwhile, the layout and user interface is still designed attractively and simply that makes the navigation is easy and straightforward. Once you press the “home” button on the remote, you will be taken on the main interface that contains the most popular apps which are neatly arranged. To access one of them, you just need to direct the pointer and click it like the use of mouse on pc. Meanwhile, talking about apps provided, there are a lot of useful and attractive apps provided. There are VoD service like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Videos, Hulu, and more, Web browser, LG Contents Store, and many more.

One of the most interesting thins of WebOS is about the controller where it is equipped with smart remote called “LG Magic Remote” as the controller. The most useful functionality is about “point and click” that makes you easier and more comfort when inputting the text or surfing on the internet. It is like use mouse on the pc. Additionally, it is also equipped with built in microphone that allows you to control TV functions with your voice. The new feature is about programmable number button where you can set up each of the number button to correspondent to most of popular apps. As example, you can set up button 1 to correspondent to YouTube apps, button 2 to correspondent to Netflix, button 3 to correspondent to Amazon Videos, etc. This means when you are pressing button 1, it will bring you to YouTube and etc. And of course, this is as true to when you are in smart TV mode.

Conclusion

As we have discussed a lot above, picture quality is the main advantage that offered by LG OLED C7. Its picture quality is amazing due all of visual specs have great performance like perfect black level and infinite contrast, wide color gamut, bright peak brightness. Additionally, it also offers perfect performance on some features like wide viewing angle, perfect motion handling, great 24p playbacks, low input lags, and attractive smart TV platform. Come with HDR technology, it already supports most of HDR format that available in the market like HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, and advanced HDR. All of them make LG OLED C7 is as one of the best TVs in 2017. Compared to last year models, picture quality offered by OLED C7 is similar to B6 series.

Should I Buy This TV? If picture quality is your main consideration in buying TV and you don’t mind spend thousands dollar to get it, LG OLED C7 is one of the best options for you, whether it is for OLED55C7P or OLED65C7P. As we have discussed a lot above, picture quality of OLED C7P is very amazing and undoubtedly. Nevertheless, you also should consider their price that is still expensive. In other hand, you should also consider OLED B6 series that has identical performance and picture quality until the price of OLED C7 drops a bit. You need to know, at this time when I was writing this review, LG OLED B6 is sold about hundreds even more than thousand dollars cheaper than OLED C7 series, whether it is for 55 inch and 65 Inch. So, while waiting the price of OLED C7 drops a bit, LG OLED B6 might be a best alternative. But of course, the decision come backs to you according your budgets and preferences. But even so, before you decide to buy OLED C7, there are a lot of opinions from its real customers where you can make as your further consideration.

Compare to last year model, Performance of LG OLED C7 is identical to OLED B6 Series. Its picture quality is very amazing no matter the light condition of a room where it is used. Almost all features which offered has great performance. The only drawbacks are its prices that is expensive and no 3D technology behind it due LG has removed 3D technology from their 2017 lineup.

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